Nebraska's anti-trans bill failed after the two state senators refused to vote for it.
Nebraska state Senator John Fredrickson is the first out gay man elected to the state legislature. Now, he has another feather in his cap.
After an impassioned speech in opposition to a bill that targeted transgender youth, two of his colleagues changed their minds about the legislation that they had co-sponsored. The measure did not pass out of committee after they did.
The stateās legislature is nonpartisan but breaks into traditional Democrat and Republican divides. As in other states, bills attacking the transgender community have been championed by conservatives.
The bill would have banned transgender youth from locker rooms, sports teams and bathrooms that match their gender identity. It also effectively barred transgender boys from all sports competitions.
Fredrickson and his husband have a son ā and as a gay parent, he spoke directly to the kids and families who were under the microscope.
āThe world can be tough and scary,ā he said. āI personally know a thing or two about having a family that many people might say is not normal.ā
āI stand here today, confidently, to tell you if you love your kid unconditionally for who they are, and if they know theyāre loved, you can weather a lot,ā Fredrickson added.
āDonāt spend a minute of your energy or time thinking about any of my colleagues in here who are too scared of difference to allow themselves to understand and celebrate the beauty and joy that you bring to our state.ā
Instead, he said, parents should ālove your babies and surround yourself with the people who love you.ā
The bill was being filibustered. It needed 33 votes to pass out of the committee, but it garnered only 31. After Fredrickson gave his speech, when it came time to vote, two co-sponsors of the bill, state Sens. Tom Brandt and Merv Riepe, chose to abstain. Their move effectively stopped the bill.
'kids these days are weirdly scrupulous for no reason'. WRONG not for no reason. grew up on increasingly de-anonymized internet, being available to everyone all the time, data tracked, google sees all, digital panopticon, etc. less and less space to explore and form own opinions without judgment from broad public audience. lack of privacy can be deeply traumatic and cause intense paranoia, obsession with thought crimes, morality, etc. not good.
look -- I don't care whether people love or hate taylor swift or TTPD, but I am genuinely curious about people's takes and how the internet's obsession with problematizing everything seems to want to eradicate the creation of any art at all.
Argue all you want about the content and/or the artistic merits of Taylor's work, but saying "the irony of taylor naming an album Tortured Poets Department while there are wars going on and actual poets being tortured" is such a wild take. Do people do not understand what confessional art production means?
The argument that she couldn't use asylum or mental illness imagery for "Who's afraid of little old me?" also baffles me, because of course it isn't literal. I don't think anyone believes Taylor Swift's white upper middleclass upbringing is the madness she's referring to -- rather than, you know, having your private life turned into public spectacle from a very young age. Now, you can feel uncomfortable with the lyrics and not hear it, and you can even debate the position mega celebrities end up in when they chase fame but then resent the lack of privacy, but. These are figures of speech, metaphors and allegories. No one can say what kind of images artists can use to describe their experiences and produce art, for fucks sake.
Art should make us uncomfortable. Art can be polarizing. Art is oftentimes self-exploratory and controversial and confessional. It is not supposed to be sanitized. No one is forced to like it or agree with it. But for the love of god learn how to interact with art without the lens of what is or isn't "problematic" on the internet.
āthe arts and sciences are completely separate fields that should be pitted against each otherā the overlap of the arts and sciences make up our entire perceivable reality they r fucking on the couch
My boyfriend was showing me his cat and I leaned over to kiss the cat on his soft little baby head and he went "meow" and scrambled away because I'd been wearing my headphones and I accidentally jabbed him with the microphone.
And I said "Damn, this is exactly like in the Iliad"
#explanation: this references the scene where Hektor the prince of troy goes to his wife after a battle and leans in to kiss his son #(who is still a baby and being held in andromache's arms) #but his son cringes away in fear of his father's battle helmet #it's a gut wrenching scene about how war dehumanizes you and separates you from the people you love #this interpretation implies that being a gamer is analogous
My favourite thing about Rand al'Thor is how he's a great exploration of what it'd really mean to be The Chosen One. Of what would actually happen if you took a young, naive, sweet, goodhearted boy from rural nowhere and suddenly thrust him into (war) a ruthless game of nations whereby he's the most important player. How horrible it'd be. How it'd absolutely wreck him.
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